Western Railroad Discussion > Goofy critter at Bond and some Amtrak

I spent most of the day Friday (Yesterday, Oct 22) on the Union Pacific Glenwood Springs Sub in western Colorado. I was hoping to get some good shots here between Dotsero and Bond. I drove the highway following the Colorado River all the way to Bond without seeing any trains at all. At Bond I spotted a UP track Inspector by the tracks and asked him about traffic. He told me that there was a maintenance window in effect in the Mofffat Tunnel after Amtrak #5 went through and until #6 showed up in the late afternoon. All freight traffic was being held so maintenance forces could to a lot of welding of continuous rail inside the tunnel. So for me it was going to be Amtrak #’s 5 and 6 or nothing. I figured that #5 would probably be the first I would see and so I picked out a scenic spot between Range and Dell and waited. Finally at 12:20, here comes #5 (Image #1). After getting the shot I raced west and got ahead of #5 at a good spot overlooking the west switch of Range siding. I waited for a while and finally #5 appears and takes the siding at Range and stops. I immediately thought that a meet with #5 and #6 was going to take place right in front of me. Sure enough at 1:03PM here comes #6 (Image 2). Right after the meet, #5 left the siding (Image #3). I tried my best to overtake #5 all the way down to Dotsero but was never able to get ahead of it on the narrow, twisty road. So, I got 3 good shots for my days work. To make this post appropriate for the Western board I have also included a shot of an unusual piece of motive power I found at Bond (Image #4). Does anyone know what this thing is? It kind of looks like a small rubber tired switcher to me.
 
Dick Ebright
Roosevelt, Utah
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/16 15:24 by 2ebright.

---

---

---

Last shot is of the critter at Bond.

Dick Ebright
Roosevelt, Utah

---

It's a shuttle wagon just like it says on the cab. These are commonly called Track Mobiles. Used for moving cars at Industries and Grain Elevators.
Steve

wpjones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's a shuttle wagon just like it says on the cab.
> These are commonly called Track Mobiles. Used for
> moving cars at Industries and Grain Elevators.
> Steve

Yes, the GP plant at Toledo, OR, replaced their 45 ton GE with one of these.  Just isn't the same!

Rob

Nice photos!  Glad you at least got to see Amtrak.

The critter is a Nordco NVX8040.  The manufacturer website claims it can move 40 loaded cars "without weight transfer coupling"... wow:
http://www.nordco.com/products-catalog/mobile-rail-car-movers/navigator-series/NVX8040.htm

#2 is spectacular! 

That perfect meet shot is really cool!

Lance/199

Great meet shot, not always easy to pull off. They used to meet at Dotsero more frequently than Range, but Dotsero has been plugged with stored wind blade flats for half a year so Range sees them meeting most frequently.

T

#2 is a winner!  Made the day worth while.

Marty Bernard

I hope you have enough pixels to crop it much tighter.  That also might make an interesting picture.  Worth a try.

Marty Bernard

Great  shots. Bring on the  snow.

Was on 5 this day, sat for about half an hour waiting on 6 here. Got back on schedule and ran at or early all the way to Sacramento. Great trip , scenery and crew.

Posted from iPhone

I like Pic 1!!

Excellent shots!

Randy Lundgren
Elgin,TX

I love that stretch of railroad. Nice work!

Jake Miille
Chico, CA
Jake Miille Photography

Great catch of the Amtrak meet.      

No 2, beautiful shot and beautiful valley.  The reason that valley is so flat is it is basically like a bathtub full of water, only instead of water, it is the outwash from those hills you see. And there sits the ranch buildings at the mouth of a huge drainage.  See this a lot in the west.  Maybe it never happens, but I wonder what would happen if there were a SHTF rainfall in that drainage?